Using Cuisenaire Rods

Addition & Subtraction

Table of Contents
Introduction
Exploring with Cuisenaire Rods 2
How Lessons Are Organized 4
Using the Activities 6

Lessons
All Aboard! Addition, Patterns 8
Logging Company Addition, Subtraction, Chance, Game Strategies 14
Rod Cover-Up Counting, Addition, Subtraction,
Spatial Visualization, Game Strategies 22
Blue Squares Spatial Visualization, Addition, Counting 30
Special Staircases Patterns, Estimation, Addition, Counting 38
Rod Equations Addition, Subtraction, Equations 42
1-Centimeter Grid Paper 48

LER 7527Using Cuisenaire Rods -Addition & Subtraction

Learning Resources, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (USA)

Exploring with Cuisenaire Rods

A versatile collection of 10 colored rectangular rods, Cuisenaire Rods are used to develop a variety of
math skills. Each rods color corresponds to a different length. The shortest rod, white, is 1 centimeter
long; the longest, orange, is 10 centimeters long. When the rods are arranged in order of length into a
pattern commonly called a staircase, each rod differs from the next by 1 centimeter. This allows
you to assign a value to one rod, then assign values to the other rods based upon the relationships
between the rods. One set contains 74 rods, distributed in the quantities shown below. The 10 colors
are as follows:
o
e
n
k
d

w
w
w
w
w
o

o
n

d y

= orange (4)
= blue (4)
= brown (4)
= black (4)
= dark green (4)

y = yellow (4)
p = purple (6)
g = light green (10)
r = red (12)
w = white (22)

w
e

w
k

d y

w
p

w
g

w
w

Using letters to represent the rods exposes students to the kind of symbolic thinking they will use later
in algebra. With Cuisenaire Rods, students can explore spatial relationships by making flat designs on
a table or by stacking them to make three-dimensional designs. They soon discover how some combinations of rods are equal in length to other, single rods.
This understanding provides a context for investigating symmetry.
Older students may focus on comparing the lengths of the rods and
recording the results on grid paper. This helps them visualize the inherent
structure of a design and gives them practice in using grade-appropriate
arithmetic and geometric vocabulary. Though students need to explore freely,
some may appreciate specific challenges, such as being asked to make designs
that show fractional equivalence between two groups of rods.

Working with Cuisenaire Rods

Cuisenaire Rods provide a basic model for the numbers 1 to 10. The white rod can stand for 1, and the
red rod can stand for 2, because the red rod has the same length as a train of two white rods. The rods
from light green through orange are assigned values from 3 through 10, respectively. The orange and
white rods provide a model for place value. A train of 4 orange rods (tens) and 3 white rods (ones)
is 43 white rods long.

Addition with Cuisenaire Rods

You can model addition for your students by placing rods in trains, and then finding their equivalence.
For example, find 4 + 3 by first making a train with a purple rod
p
g
(4) and a light green rod (3) and then find the single rod (black)
k
whose length (7) is equal in length to the two-car train made
up of purple and light green. This model corresponds to addition
4+3=7
on a number line.

LER 7527Using Cuisenaire Rods -Addition & Subtraction

Learning Resources, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (USA)

Exploring with Cuisenaire Rods

Use the activities in this book, arranged in order from easiest to most challenging, to further students
understanding of the properties of addition. Start with All Aboard! to give students some preliminary
practice at recognizing the value of each rod color. In addition, by creating the two-car trains of equivalence, students gain an understanding of which two rods (quantities) are equivalent in value to what
other rod (quantity). In this way, you give students an opportunity to review each of the two-addend
facts for sums up to 10 and informally expose them to the commutative property of addition.
From there, students progress to more challenging activities, Logging Company and Rod Cover-Up, in
which they must make decisions about which rods to pair in order to reach particular quantities. These
activities will strengthen their understanding of the commutative property. Blue Squares offers practice in addition facts, while Special Staircases extends the learning of math
facts up to those with a sum of 20. These four activities give students the
added opportunity to strengthen reasoning and game-playing skills.
Finally, Rod Equations gives students an opportunity for reverse application; instead of attempting to build rods to represent a math fact, students build two equivalent trains and then write all of the math facts
represented by the trains. This teaches both the commutative property of addition and the symmetric property of equality.

Subtraction with Cuisenaire Rods

The rods can also be used for acting out subtraction as students search for a missing addend. For
example, they can solve 7 3 by placing a light green rod (3) on top of a black rod (7). Students then
look for the rod that, when placed next to the light green rod, makes a train equal in length to the black.
The missing addend, a purple rod (4), is the solution to this subtraction problem.
Once students have completed the All Aboard! activity and
have a basic understanding of the values and uses of the rod
colors, you can move on to Logging Company and Rod
Cover-Up. Both units offer practice in basic subtraction facts
through the use of the rods. To challenge students understanding of subtractions inverse relationship to addition,
move to Rod Equations. This unit gives children practice in
looking at the rods and writing the math facts represented
by each train.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Cuisenaire Rods are also effective models for investigating
more advanced math operations and concepts, including
Multiplication and Division, Fractions and Decimals,
Geometry, Measurement, Number Patterns, and Logical
Reasoning. Contact Learning Resources, Inc. for a complete
line of mathematics teaching tools, including numerous
manipulative kits, Cuisenaire products, and these other
titles in the Using Cuisenaire Rods series:

LER 7528 Using Cuisenaire Rods: Multiplication & Division

LER 7529 Using Cuisenaire Rods: Fractions & Decimals

LER 7530 Using Cuisenaire Rods: Geometry & Measurement

LER 7527Using Cuisenaire Rods -Addition & Subtraction

Cuisenaire Rods and

the NCTM Standards

BASED ON

NCTM
STANDARDS

The activities in Using Cuisenaire

Rods: Addition & Subtraction are
consistent with the vision of mathematics teaching described in the
Principles and Standards for
School Mathematics published by
the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics. All of these activities involve the use of the Process
Standards: Problem Solving,
Reasoning and Proof,
Communication, Connections, and
Representation. Each activity also
focuses on one or more of the following Content Standards:
Number and Operations, Algebra,
Geometry, Measurement, or Data
Analysis and Probability.

Learning Resources, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (USA)

Logging Company 2

Name:
Numbers Probability Statistics
Addition Subtraction Chance Game Strategies

Overloaded Trucks
Each of the trucks below is carrying rods equal to more than 10
white rods. Determine the weight of each trucks load by writing an addition sentence that corresponds to the values of the
rods in that truck. Then, find how many rods youd need to subtract to make the load equal to 10 white rods. Show your work.
1.

Example:

p+ e = ?
4 + 9 =13

2.

3.

p+ e o = ?
13 10 = 3
e

4.
d

LER 7527Using Cuisenaire Rods -Addition & Subtraction

Learning Resources, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (USA)

Using Cuisenaire Rods

Addition & Subtraction, Grades 1-3
LER 7527
Discover hundreds of classroom applications for the most versatile hands-on math tool! This
expansive series provides step-by-step teaching strategies and all the reproducible resources youll
need to present major math concepts to students in Grades 1 through 6. Developed by educators
to conform to the NCTMs latest content strands and topics, each 48-page books six field-tested,
comprehensive units include:
Complete lesson plans
In-depth hands-on activities
Blackline masters
Assessment worksheets
Math extensions
Detailed teaching notes

Look for the other fine Cuisenaire Rods products available from Learning Resources:
LER 7528 - Using Cuisenaire Rods: Multiplication & Division, Grades 2-4
LER 7529 - Using Cuisenaire Rods: Fractions & Decimals, Grades 3-6
LER 7530 - Using Cuisenaire Rods: Geometry & Measurement, Grades 3-6
LER 7500 - Cuisenaire Rods Introductory Set (Plastic)
LER 7501 - Cuisenaire Rods Introductory Set (Wood)
LER 7504 - Cuisenaire Rods Activity Set Gr. PreK-2 (Plastic)
LER 7505 - Cuisenaire Rods Activity Set Gr. PreK-2 (Wood)
LER 7508 - Overhead Cuisenaire Rods

LER 7527 Using Cuisenaire Rods - Addition & Subtraction

Learning Resources, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (USA)